The Eurocup debuted in St. Petersburg, Russia with a thriller on Tuesday as host Spartak outlasted Turk Telecom 85-83 after a game-long back-and-forth struggle that promises great competitiveness in Group E. Aleksey Zozulin and Zakhar Pashutin combined for allthe points in a game-changing 10-0 run by the hosts early in the final quarter. Spartak's defense did the rest, holding on at the finish to celebrate a narrow opening-game victory. James White led the winners with 20 points while shooting in 8 of 9 two-point shots. Zozulin finished with 15 points, Levance Fields 13, Milovan Rakovic 12 and Zakhar Pashutin 11 for Spartak. For Turk Telekom, the big gun was Lamayne Wilson with 22 points, including 6 of 8 three-pointers. Demond Mallet went 5 for 9 from downtown and added 19 points, while Huseyin Besok scored 16. Erwin Dudley registered the game's only double-double, 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Spartak started its Eurocup debut strong, as Zakhar Pashutin and Yahor Meshcharakou helped build a 9-5 lead. Huseyin Besok's 5 points in a row got Turk Telekom closer. Spartak tried with 5 points by White to escape, going up 18-12, but Mallet matched him and Dudley took over for the visitors inside to make it 20-19. A basket by Fields provided the only points of the first quarter's final minute as Spartak led 22-19. Zozulin struck with a triple at 25-21 early in the second quarter, but Turk Telekom was not going away. Indeed, the visitors seized their first lead as Wilson struck from downtown at 25-26. White, Zozulin and Fields reclaimed the edge for Spartak at 34-29, but Tutku Acik and Besok took it right back for Turk Telekom with 6 straight points. Back and forth the teams tugged over the lead until Layman and Mallet went boom-boom-boom from the arc to let Turk Telekom take a 44-46 advantage into halftime of a scintillating scoring show.

The tug-of-war over the lead continued into the third quarter as White and Meshcharakou put Spartak back up 50-46, only to see Mallett and Dudley team up again to strike back for the guests. Mallet's next three-pointer seemed to give Turk Telekom momentum at 56-60, and when Fields answered from downtown, Wilson responded again from that distance for the guests. Bekir Yarangume joined the shooting display for the guests as Turk Telekom took a 63-68 advantage into the fourth quarter. A big triple by Andre Owens, his assist to Dudley and a triple by Wilson seemd to bode well for the visitors at 70-76 with 7 minutes left, but it would be quite awhile before Turk Telekom scored again as the Spartak defense took over now. At the same time, Pashutin and Zozulin turned into the only scorers on the floor. Zozulin's followed a dunk with a three-point shot to seize the lead at 77-76, then Pashutin fired from downtown to make it a 10-0 run and an 80-76 lead for Spartak. Besok stopped Turk Telekom's slide with free throws and a layup, but Fields matched him with a layup before Zozulin hit another three-pointer at 85-80. A tense, scoreless final 2 minutes for the hosts didn't threaten the victory, however, as Spartak's defense held on for an 85-83 victory in the club's Eurocup debut!

Head Coaches

SHERF, ZVI

Spartak St Petersburg

"Spartak won today the first game in the Eurocup and also our first game of the season. I want everybody to understand that we beat here a very good team, a team with a lot of weapons in offense, a team that makes a very high percentage of three-points shots. For three days after a tough lost against Enisey in the Russian League, we prepared for the offense of Ankara. I told my players that they take more three-points shots than two-point shots. And now that I look at the statistics I see that I was right. They have some players with incredible shooting percentages. We had some ups and downs during the game. But 25-26 minutes of the game were okay. We had some problems and we have to learn and see how to do things better. Now it's much easier to come to practice and work with players without this terrible continuation of loses."

OZYER, MURAT

Turk Telekom

"Congratulations to Spartak St. Petersburg. They won the first game. I have respect for coach Zvi Sherf. It was a great honor to play against him. We had to do two things in the beginning of the game. At first we had to control the tempo of the game because Fields is a very fast player and James White is a very athletic player. But we did not have success and we had 11 turnovers. Then we tried to have on the court two point guards to organize our game better. But they were not fresh. In the last quarter we were 6 points ahead, but we couldn't save this situation. We tried to steal the last ball, but we couldn't shoot. This is an unlucky situation for us. Now we think about our next game with Charleroi."